Owner tool · working capital

How long is your cash trapped in the business?

Between paying your suppliers and getting paid by your customers, there’s a gap — and that gap is funded out of your own pocket. The cash conversion cycle measures it in days. The shorter (or more negative) it is, the less cash your growth ties up.

First, in 30 seconds

It’s collect days + stock days − pay days.

Three things sit between a sale and the cash: how long customers take to pay you (DSO), how long stock sits before it sells (DIO), and how long you take to pay your own suppliers (DPO). Add the first two, subtract the last, and you get the cash conversion cycle — the number of days your own money is tied up in the operating cycle.

A negative cycle is the prize: you collect from customers before you pay suppliers, so growth funds itself. A high positive cycle means every new order locks up more of your cash — you grow and feel poorer. Enter your numbers below to see exactly where the days are going.

DSO — days sales outstanding
Average days customers take to pay you after a sale.
DIO — days inventory outstanding
Average days stock sits before it’s sold.
DPO — days payable outstanding
Average days you take to pay suppliers. Higher is better for your cash.
CCC — cash conversion cycle
DSO + DIO − DPO. Days your cash is tied up. Negative = funded by suppliers.
1

Your scale for the year

Use a full twelve months so the day counts are stable. Trailing twelve months is fine.
Total sales over the year.
$
Cost of goods sold — what your products/inventory cost you over the year. Not sure? A pure service business with no stock can enter 0.
$
2

Your balances right now

Current balances from your books. Use period-end figures, or an average if you have it.
Money customers owe you but haven’t paid yet. Not sure? It’s your “accounts receivable” — the unpaid-invoices total.
$
Value of stock on hand. (0 if you hold none — e.g. a pure service business.)
$
Money you owe suppliers but haven’t paid yet. Not sure? It’s your “accounts payable” — unpaid supplier bills.
$
Your cash conversion cycle

The cycle tells you where the cash is stuck. Freeing it is the work.

Whether your cycle is short or punishing, the moves are concrete: collect faster, hold less stock, negotiate longer terms — in the order that frees the most cash for your business. I do this with founders every week, and the first conversation is free.

Free up my trapped cash →
How the math works (for the curious)

Three standard ratios, each turned into a number of days. DSO = AR ÷ revenue × 365 — how many days of sales are sitting unpaid in receivables. DIO = Inventory ÷ COGS × 365 — how many days of cost are sitting in stock. DPO = AP ÷ COGS × 365 — how many days of cost you’re financing through unpaid supplier bills.

The cash conversion cycle stitches them together: CCC = DSO + DIO − DPO. It’s the number of days between paying for inputs and collecting from customers — days your own cash is tied up. Negative means you collect before you pay, so your suppliers are effectively financing your working capital (the Amazon / Apple position).

Each day of cycle ties up roughly one day of revenue — revenue ÷ 365 — so the cash figure shown is your CCC in days multiplied by daily revenue. Inventory and payable days use COGS as the base because that’s the cost flowing through stock and supplier bills; if you enter no COGS, those two can’t be computed and we show n/a. These are point-in-time estimates from the balances you enter; averaging beginning and ending balances gives a smoother read.

An estimate for planning — not accounting, tax, or financial advice. Uses the numbers you enter; pull them from your bookkeeping for the best read. Nothing leaves your browser. Logic current as of June 2026.

Unfolding Values · founder tools · all founder tools · unfoldingvalues.com
A plain-English working-capital read. An estimate for planning only — not accounting or financial advice.